During the 4th Tripartite Talk, GJMM has been immensely pressurized to focus only on the creation of Gorkhaland, besides, the conclusion of the Meeting seems to be only TALK on POLITICAL LEVEL in next round. Do you think 4th Tripartite Talk has been successful?

Terai-Dooars strike commences; We oppose any such move that proposes to divide the state of West Bengal: Mamata Banerjee

SILIGURI, May 10: The Congress labour front - the Intuc-affiliated North Bengal Union of Plantation Workers - today launched a campaign for the upcoming two-tier Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad election scheduled on 28 June. The Darjeeling district Intuc president Mr Aloke Chakravarty said that his organization would place maximum emphasis on mobilising tea plantation workers in the Terai region behind the Congress-Trinamul Congress alliance in the ensuing election. “We would depute two observers from each local unit in all the four blocks in the region. They would work in conjunction with the district Congress leadership to ensure the alliance's win in this crucial SMP election,” he said.

Mr Chakravarty further said that they would bring home to the plantation workers the message of the AICC general secretary Mr Rahul Gandhi. “Mr Gandhi has already thrown his weight behind the tea workers’ demand for land patta. We would also expose the double standards on the part of the CPI-M affiliated Citu in relation to this crucial issue,” he said.

Commenting on the recent poll boycott call by a tribal organization, the Congress leader accused the CPI-M of playing a crafty game over the boycott. “Citu activists participated by stealth in the polling process during the Parliamentary election on 30 June in the Terai region, betraying the Intuc and Citu's agreement over the collective boycott call,” Mr Chakravarty alleged. n SNS

Terai-Dooars strike commencesStatesman News Service

JALPAIGURI, May 10: The indefinite Terai-Dooars shutdown called by the Terai-Dooars Coordination Committee of the Akhil Bhartiya Adivasi Vikash Parishad has commenced today.

The strike has thrown life in several areas in the Dooars out of gear, though its impact was much less in the Terai. The shutdown was called demanding the release of two ABAVP activists who had been taken into police custody from Nagrakata in the wake of post-poll violence in the Dooars.

Areas affected by the strike included Banarhat, Nagrakata, Hasimara, Binnaguri, Grass More, Ethelbari, Telipara and Dimdima. Most shops in the Dooars remained closed today. ABAVP activists armed with bows and arrows staged roadblocks in several parts of Nagrakata and Banarhat. The activists are reported to have ransacked two shops in Binnaguri Station Road area.

Road and train services in the Dooars were also hit by the bandh. The Siliguri-New Alipurduar Intercity Express and the Siliguri-Alipurduar passenger train were cancelled today. Also the Alipurduar-Delhi Mahananda Express was diverted through the New Cooch Behar route.

ABAVP activists also locked up the Nature Interpretation Centre in Lataguri near Garumara forest and posted their flag in the centre area. The weekly haat in Malbazaar Road was also affected by the bandh.

The strike made little impact on Odlabari, Dhupgur and Mainaguri.

The president of the Terai-Dooars Coordination Committee of ABAVP, Mr John Barla, said that they would continue with the bandh until their demand was met.

The SP Jalpaiguri Mr Anand Kumar said that they were keeping a close eye on the developing situation.

Meanwhile the Bangla O Bangla Bhasa Bachao Committee, a state-based pressure group, has called for a 24 hour shutdown in Siliguri on 15 May, demanding the annulment of the Parliamentary election for the Darjeeling constituency, the deletion of foreigners’ names from the electoral list, and a re-poll.

The BOBBBC president and an eminent physician, Dr Mukunda Majumder, said that the election had been reduced to a farce in the crucial constituency. “The GJMM, in conjunction with the pliant district official and electoral machinery, have rigged the election. We will not accept the verdict, whatever it may be, until the votes’ list is duly corrected by deleting the foreign nationals’ names,” he asserted.

He further said that the shutdown would manifest the wrath smouldering in the people against the betrayal of the democratic engagement by the ruling clique in the Darjeeling hills. “No writ of the state government is running here and this abdication of authority is emboldening the separatists to run amok in the region,” Dr Majumder said.

Commenting on the proposed bandh a day before the counting process begins, the Siliguri SDO Mr Sharad Dwivedi said that they were keeping a close watch on the situation.

Hill strategy on counting

SILIGURI, May 10: Senior police and administrative officials in the district, including the DM and SP, will be meeting at the Darjeeling district collectorate tomorrow to take stock of preparedness for the 16 May poll counting.

The meeting - convened by the district electoral officer and the Darjeeling DM Mr Surendra Gupta - will also be attended by the SDOs and senior police officers from the four sub-divisions of Siliguri, Kalimpong, Kurseong and Darjeeling.

The meeting will begin at noon. n SNS

Teach and learn: UK teens’ hill experienceMRINALINI SHARMA

Pakang, May 10: Evie Hone from the UK won everybody’s heart when she played a wooden Lepcha flute at Pakang, a quaint village in Kalimpong subdivision.

“I learnt the tune from a villager in just four sessions,” she said ecstatically at the 5th Lepcha English Language Day celebration in Pakang, 106km from Siliguri, on Friday.

Hone and 22 other teenagers from Britain and Belgium just finished their three-month long programme — organised by Africa and Asia Venture (AV), a UK-based NGO — to teach English to the children in a cluster of eight Lepcha villages.

The association between the Lepcha community and AV began in 2003 when the NGO under its Gap Year Teaching programme brought teenagers, who were just out of their secondary school, to remote villages of Kalimpong to teach children.

“These teenagers take a break of one year when they are just out of school. Some of them who want to travel around the world render free services. We undertake similar programmes in Africa also,” said Tendup Tshering Lama, the regional director of Asia Venture.

The volunteers teach in the night schools Pakang, Samsing, Pacheok, Siddim, Kongrebong Pringtam and Dabling. “The AV has built night schools where children come to learn English after regular classes. However, it is not just the children who learn. The volunteers also absorb many aspects of Lepcha culture,” said Tamang.

The result was quite evident when the children entertained the guests with peppy numbers like Abba’s Mamma Mia and enacted Odeysseus. Aliaster, another volunteer from the UK, recited a Lepcha poem ruing his unrequited love for the “beautiful Lepcha women” of the village. “It is an experience of a lifetime. There are so many problems here. Even basic amenities like electricity and running water are lacking. The hills are in stark contrast to Britain where we have all luxuries,” said Josephine Jonathan, donning a colourful Lepcha attire like others in her group.

Four members of the group also compiled the Lepcha English Encyclopedic Dictionary that will be published in October.

What’s more, they even learnt the ancient art of Lepcha archery and were eager to participate in a competition scheduled later in the day.

Children in turn found the night schools fun. “Bella and Claire are our favourite teachers because they taught us games like bingo and hangman. We also taught them Lepcha songs, dances and poems,” said eight-year-old Nurjangmit Lepcha.

Ritesh Pradhan wins Inter Village Chess Tournament

Kurseong May 10: Ritesh Pradhan (29) - a resident of Naya Bajar, Kurseong - won the final match of the Inter Village Chess Tournament organized by Aacharya Sanstha and held at Aacharya Sanstha hall in Kurseong today.

A total of 16 chess players participated in the tournament from across Kurseong town - including nine-year-old Pratik Rai, a resident of Naya Bajar, and Sunil Subba (50), a resident of Bhanutole-Kurseong.

In the presence of judges Mr Deewakar Waiba, a national chess player, and Mr Rajen Khaiba, a member of the Kurseong Chess Association, the two finalists Samresh Mondal (26) and Ritesh Pradhan (29) fought a closely contested match that lasted for nearly five hours, in which Mr Ritesh Pradhan finally clinched the Inter Village Chess Tournament championship.

The Aacharya Club Sansta-Kurseong secretary, Mr Sahadeo Sharma, said this tournament had been organized to promote local youth. n sns

Mamata Banerjee: Small-scale units more beneficialGulfNews

Kolkata: The firebrand leader of the Trinamool Congress, Mamata Banerjee, has made headlines over the years for her tireless campaign to make a dent in the communist citadel in West Bengal. In an exclusive interview to Gulf News, she shares her views about the forthcoming elections and about the challenges that lie ahead.

The Bharatiya Janata Party is in favour of creating smaller states and, if they come to power, they are in favour of carving a Gorkhaland state out of Darjeeling. Will you favour such a move?

We oppose any such move that proposes to divide the state of West Bengal. Please remember that during independence, partition was an immense blow to the people of this part of our country and we have suffered immensely for the same. Hence, there is no question of agreeing to divide West Bengal. But no one seems to be interested in answering the basic question as to why people in the hills are aggrieved. It is because there has been no development in that region for the last 32 years. Darjeeling has the potential to develop into one of the finest hill resorts in the country but, unfortunately, due to the CPM's misrule it is in a mess.

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now with landslide upa victory gorkhaland dream is history........long live manmohan singh ji.(Posted by subha, May 18, 2009, 2:39 PM)

.............. whole british empire opposed the creation of independent india....... but we got her free........... so west bengal kaun sa khet kee mulee hai........ gorkhaland may be just the part of hill station for rest of the bengol but for us it is destiny....... "aag sey at khelo bahhcey hat jal jayega"..........(Posted by anoop, May 14, 2009, 11:00 AM)

Hey Subha,
Once again, your disagreement and denial is understandable, but the truth is Gorkhaland is going to be there and West Bengal will remain West Bengal even without the hills of Darjeeling. The hell I am talking about is Kolkota and the govt. of West Bengal. Who neither considered Gorkhalis of Darjeeling as an equal partner, nor they treated us with dignity and respect. So, eat your heart out again and again on this subject matter, but we will attain Gorkhaland. JAI GORKHALAND(Posted by D.R., May 13, 2009, 10:24 AM)

d.r what the hell u r speaking.darjeeling was always part of west bengal and will remain..whole of west bengal be it from kolkata,durgaapur,siliguri opposes such move to divide the state.(Posted by subha, May 13, 2009, 9:40 AM)

As long as a Bengali is asked about Gorkhaland the oblivious answer will be no more partition of Bengal. Therefore, it will be foolish for us Gorkhas to expect any sympathy from these Bengalis irrespective of their ideology, party, and politics. However, at least it gives us a genuine reason to continue our pressure from the center and from the hills of Darjeeling, Sikkim, Dehradun, Bhaksu, and Assam. We must not expect anything from the plains of this untrustworthy and unfortunate West Bengal; time-and-time again they talk about Darjeeling as if we were a part of Bengal from the very beginning. These idiots from Calcutta have amnesia when it comes to our original history and our root. We the people of Darjeeling must press forward with out ultimate agenda of separate state of Gorkhaland whether West Bengal or the Bengalis likes it or not. We always have to constantly remind them that Darjeeling was never a part of West Bengal historically, culturally, geographically, politically, racially, educationally, and econimically. We shall never remain a part of West Bengal. Under the constitution of India, it is a valid demand which is long overdue. Mamta Banerjee and rest of the Bengalis who oppose ‘Gorkhaland’ eat your hearts out, because sooner or later, there will be Gorkhaland. JAI GORKHA! (Posted by D.R., May 12, 2009, 10:41 AM)

It is not the leader of tinamul speaking it is the selfish motive to remain as leader firstly and secondly the bengali blood is speaking.If she is the true leader she should have been a bit sympethetic to the cause of Gorkhas demand .This demand is not new .Nation knows.The other leaders other than of bengal are sympethetic,why only bengal leaders are against it.Look the siliguri based BOOOs Mukund Mazumdar is talking about repooling,what nonsense he is talking about He is a guinine bangladeshi therefore talking about all the time foreigeners.(Posted by prem, May 11, 2009, 7:03 PM)

Contradiction in Clarity: ........ "We oppose any such move that proposes to divide the state of West Bengal. Please remember that during independence, partition was an immense blow to the people of this part of our country and we have suffered immensely for the same. Hence, there is no question of agreeing to divide West Bengal." ......... Yes, Mamta Banerjee (of the Congie-Commie Nexus) .... that was a division of two countries (East and West) ..... this (the creation of Gorkhaland) is only a recorrection of past mistakes .... and all, within India ..... and West Bengal .... incidentally ..... will not be divided (into North and South) but re-corrected as Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri ...... was never Bengal's to begin with .... stirring up Bengalese sentiments and emotions by flooding the region with illegal immigrants and then using scare and fear tactics on them, is she? ....... SHAME! SHAME!!! ..... why can't she sing the mantra ..... that they will all get special priviledges of a TAX FREE and SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONE - a GATEWAY TO THE ENTIRE EASTERN REGION OF INDIA when the West Bengal State is recorrected ?? Any Darjeeling Congies listening .... and protesting ?? Probably not !!! ..... Sort of sitting in a sweet "Kharbuja" DAZE ....(Posted by Lazy Daisy, May 11, 2009, 4:17 PM)